# All Questions

270 views

### Simulation Based Proof: What Can / Can not Simulator Do?

I have seen some examples in "Foundation of cryptography" and "Efficient two party computation", in which simulator can do some things that in the real world model the parties cannot do, for instance: ...
78 views

### Collision probability of MD5 over different attacks

I am researching the collision probability of MD5 and various attacks against it. Can someone help me how to learn the least probability that there will be a collision in a specific attack on MD5? ...
122 views

### How is an epsilon of 1/1000 non-negligible?

Lately I've been studying cryptography and in the current course I'm taking we're reviewing statistical tests and how they can be used to determine if a pseudo-random generator is secure or not. ...
141 views

### Reversing Rotation + XOR

I have this cypher which is as follows : Take 2 numbers : A=1011 and B=1010 if the ith bit of A is 1 then shift B i times to the left. So in the end you will get ...
107 views

### Will adding space to the Vigenère block make it truly unbreakable?

I just have gotten into cryptography and learned about the Vigenère block. I think it's a very good idea because, if used correctly, it is unbreakable. But the only downsite is, the key must be the ...
82 views

### What should I think about these unique certificate serial numbers [closed]

I was looking at the serial numbers of the certificates for www.google.com and wordpress.com. Wordpress was listed by openssl as: 04:0B:D4:F8:25:88:C5 This serial is listed as the serial for both ...
192 views

127 views

### Why are cryptographically secure hashes required for digital signing (RSA or DSA)?

I know that a cryptographically secure hashing algorithm is required for proper message signing (SHA-1, or I think SHA-2 is the current suggested algorithm). However, why does the hashing algorithm ...
279 views

### Can we quantify strength of encryption scheme ?

Was wondering if we have any (or can we come up with) "units" for strength of encryption like in Physics. Most of our comparative analysis of encryption schemes are based on number of S boxes or ...
145 views

### Do I have to transfer the private key to digitally sign a remote document?

I'm trying to digitally sign a document which is uploaded by a user. I want the user to sign that document using his digital signing certificate (DSC). Should I: transfer the file to the user, and ...
2k views

### How can a cryptosystem be unconditionally secure?

The definition of an unconditionally secure cryptosystem states that the cryptosystem cannot be broken even with infinitely computational ressources and time. However, since most books define the ...
101 views

### Does it necessary the public key is prime number in RSA algorithm?

I read some books talk about RSA cryptography but I did not understand something when choosing a public key $e$ Sometimes the condition is $1<e<$$\phi(n)$ Where $\phi(n) = p-1 * q-1$ also ...
395 views

### Point decompression on an elliptic curve

I'm programming an elliptic curve cryptosystem and I'm having difficulty with decompressing points. The following information is from my project specification as to my understanding: Given a point ...
178 views

### Using the same symmetric key in both directions?

A simple symmetric encryption scheme uses the same key, derived from a password, for both directions of the communication. Is this bad practice, and if so what should be done about it? Is it 'good ...
242 views

### Availability of a simple limited PRNG algorithm

I am in need of a really simple limited PRNG, that either exists or can easily be created in virtually any language on any platform. It takes only the initial seed, and is only expected to generate a ...
266 views

### Is the output of AES-CBC + MAC the same size as the input?

I use AES-CBC and HMAC-SHA256 to encrypt a text file. Will the output be larger in size than the input or will it be the same size? Is it more secure secure if the size of the output is larger?
321 views

### How can CBC-MAC be secure when message length is fixed?

I was doing some self-initiated knowledge gathering about digests, signatures and hmacs and I ran across the fact that you can use CBC as a MAC, but if the message size is not fixed; then it is not ...
123 views

### How a file is encrypted?

I thought encryption algorithms(like AES) are used to encrypt texts,so how a file or folder(containing pictures,videos,...) is encrypted?What is encrypted exactly?
80 views

### The use of the term “sound” in cryptography [closed]

We often see the term "sound" in cryptography. What is the sense of this word ? Thank you.
121 views

### Is SEAL 3.0 broken?

I'll like to know if SEAL 3.0 (cf http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/seal.pdf) is broken. I stumbled on Bernstein's website that claimed that SEAL 3.0 has been broken. (cf ...
408 views

### File format of an $2048$ bits RSA public key

From here, there are $14$ bytes specifying the file format of the key. I am still quite confused about the format bytes. For example, the following public key 30 82 01 0a 02 82 01 01 00 8e a3 d1 c7 ...
81 views

### Is equal length of primes in Paillier cryptosystem is mandate for security reasons?

In continuation to this question about length of primes , I am in doubt about the restriction on length of primes itself . In Paillier cryptosystem , equal length of primes are used . My doubt is ...
333 views

### Does google's Crypto.JS AES encryption use PBKDF2 as default?

Does google's Crypto.JS AES encryption use PBKDF2 as default? Some references, but I can't figure out the answer myself: https://code.google.com/p/crypto-js/#The_Cipher_Algorithms ...
345 views

### Security of chameleon hash functions

With the knowledge of the trapdoor, we are able to compute the same digest for differents messages. I've read that given two messages $m$, $m'$ and two numbers $r$, $r'$ such that ...
466 views

### How do RSA and ElGamal key sizes compare?

I have a rather silly question regarding the comparison of RSA with ElGamal over integers. If you want to compare their performance in the same level of security, does the modulus of both of them need ...
185 views

### Weak key schedule IDEA [closed]

Why was such a weak key schedule chosen for IDEA? The key schedule of IDEA works like this: Divide the key (128 bit) into 8 round keys, each 16 bit long. This are the first 8 "round" keys (6 keys per ...
329 views

### How do disk encryption programs solve the “IV problem”?

I was reading a paper on the "elephant diffuser" used in BitLocker and it got me wondering how other systems (e.g. TrueCrypt before it shutdown) solved the problem the elephant diffuser was meant to ...
137 views

### Are password salts equivalent to keystream?

I was reading up on keystream when I came upon the definition of it: A keystream is a stream of random or pseudorandom characters that are combined with a plaintext message to produce an encrypted ...
400 views

### Why would an RSA library tell me that the public key must be at least 512 bits in size?

I'm trying to interoperate with a web service by reverse-engineering it. Currently, when sending a POST request, it encrypts the form data one-by-one with a 'RSA' function. But it's rather weird as ...
333 views

### What's the point of a Meet In The Middle attack using i.e. double AES with throw-away keys?

What's the point of a Meet In The Middle attack while using, for example, a double AES encryption and using one time keys? You can recover the keys for a secret message already known and you can't use ...
116 views

### Efficiently map $2^n$ unique 64-bit vectors to $2^n$ $n$-bit vectors where $n < 64$? [closed]

Is there an efficient way to map $2^n$ unique 64-bit vectors to $2^n$ $n$-bit vectors where $n < 64$?
148 views

### Is it insecure to encrypt the wrong plaintext?

Most plaintext must be fed as a string or a binary object to be encrypted. However, it's often possible to mis-decode the plaintext before encrypting it. i.e. If it's received as a string in JSON, ...
140 views

### Adding an IV to an AES implementation

I have an embedded project that requires AES, I seem to have found an AES implementation that fits the bill here: http://www.literatecode.com/aes256, but it does not include an IV. Are there any ...